Contract dispute interfering with the airing of show’s season 2

On behalf of Peter C. Bronstein of The Law Office of Peter C. Bronstein posted in Contract Disputes on Monday, November 28, 2016.

California tends to thrive on entertainment industry contract disputes. The laid-back slower pace of life here is just that: a perception, and probably a wrong one. In the entertainment industry, the stresses of business dealings, including when there is a contract dispute, are even more hectic than in other states because of the intense demands made on all the participants. In one current example, the production itself is taking place in another state, but at least one of the disputing entities is from this state.

The show is a reality presentation of the life of a family of seven achondroplastic dwarfs. The parent company putting on the production is Discovery Communications LLC. The producer of the show is the California-based LMNO Cable Group. The show had been approved for production of a second season when contract conflicts began to emerge in public.

LMNO filed a federal lawsuit against Discovery this past summer, claiming that Discovery had agreed to pay $2.64 million for the next eight episodes but chose instead to end its agreement while still owing $632,000. LMNO had produced the second season but is holding on the footage. LMNO’s counsel alleges that everything will be fine if Discovery pays what it owes. In response, Discovery insists that it paid for the productions but that it needs the footage to be handed over.

LMNO’s claim in this contract dispute is apparently not pristine. The company admitted in its lawsuit that it was the victim of an embezzlement scheme in late 2015. Discovery responds that this led to a revelation that LMNO was “systematically defrauding” the network. A federal judge has thus far not taken a side on the issue, and denied Discovery’s motion for an order compelling the California-based LMNO to turn over the episodes that it has already paid for. The case is now scheduled for court mediation prior to being scheduled for a jury trial.

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